Artemis
Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, The Hunt and The Harvest and Creator of the Amazons was a Greek goddess and daughter of Zeus. (YH: "Inn Trouble") She was the patron goddess of Syros. (HTLJ: "The Apple") She was also the patron goddess of many Amazon tribes, including the Shimax. (HTLJ: "Love, Amazon Style") She was also goddess of the Moon. (XWP: "Hooves and Harlots") She was also considered "the Greatest of all Olympians." (XWP: "To Helicon and Back") History Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was the older twin sister of Apollo, and also the (Older) half sister of such olympians as Ares and Athena. She considered herself a "jock," and often fought with her sisters Athena and Aphrodite, to which she was the middle child. At one point in time, she was at able to do over 10,000 push-ups a day, but then she became out of shape and could only do 10,000. (HTLJ: "The Apple") Amazon legend purports that the Amazon Nation was founded by Artemis (XWP: "Path of Vengeance"). Dead Amazons would be burned in a funeral pyre and immediately be sent to Artemis. (XWP: "Hooves and Harlots") :Amazon High and Lifeblood show the true origin of the Amazons, and Artemis is not present. She may have gotten involved later or acted behind-the-scenes, the latter of which is more likely. Ares foresaw the breakup of the Amazon Nation into separate tribes, and warned Artemis of this, but she did not prevent it for unknown reasons. (XWP: "Path of Vengeance") After separate tribes were created, Artemis gave the Shimax tribe a remnat of the Cronos stone in order to prevent certain gods from taking over the tribes. (HTLJ: "Love, Amazon Style") Punishments According to an ancient story, King Liberius affronted the goddess by hunting in her sacred forest. She turned the king into a deer for a brief period, before realizing he had learned from his mistake and transformed him back. (XWP: "Is There a Doctor in the House?") Roles One of her devotees was Kora, who prepared her harvest offerings for Delos. When Strife and Discord stole Artemis's harvest offering, Kora was put in charge of investigating the theft. This was one of the first times that Hercules noted that the Gods can be unfair. He was framed for the theft by Strife and Discord, but Hercules was able to convince her that he did not steal the food and proved that it was Strife and Discord. She severely punished the two gods for their theft. She rewarded Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason with a melon, full of dinars. (YH: "Inn Trouble") The basilisk Ruff was placed under the protection of Artemis on her sacred island. (YH: "Mysteries of Life") When Iolaus was chosen to judge a beauty contest between Artemis, Athena, and Aphrodite, Artemis offered Iolaus the ability to be a greater warrior than even Hercules, or the greatest wrestler or runner. In the end, Artemis lost out to Aphrodite. (HTLJ: "The Apple") Velasca blamed Artemis for the decline of the Amazon Nation and, as God of Chaos, destroyed her temple. (XWP: "A Necessary Evil") When Hera released several Titans, Artemis turned Gabrielle into a giant bird in order to enlist the help of Xena in combatting these Titans. She joined Zeus, Iolaus, Xena, Gabrielle, Aphrodite, and Ares in fighting the Titans, but was transformed into a rabbit by Hera. This was later reversed. (The Battle for Mt. Olympus) After her bow was stolen from the Temple of Artemis by Autolycus, she sent Hermes to contact Hercules about retrieving it. Autolycus sold it to Discord. Hercules later returned the bow to Artemis. (HTLJ: "Porkules") Warrior Priestesses from her temple attempted to kill Xena and Eve in order to prevent the Twilight of the Gods, they, of course, failed. (XWP: "Eternal Bonds") She was the mother of Bellerophon (which contradicts the original mythology which stated that she was a virgin goddess). (XWP: "To Helicon and Back") When Xena invaded the Great Hall of Olympus, Artemis attempted to kill her with two arrows, but Xena caught them, and threw them both back, killing the goddess. (XWP: "Motherhood") Bellerophon, perhaps mistakenly, blamed Amazons for abandoning her during the Twilight and swore on his mother's grave to avenge her death. (XWP: "To Helicon and Back") After her death, she visited her brother Ares, now mortal, in a dream and told him of the Amazon's secret ambrosia, guessing the events that would transpire involving Aphrodite and a certain Caligula in the near future. (XWP: "Coming Home") Powers :Artemis possesses most of the abilities of a god. She has shown superhuman strength and cannot feel pain or be killed unless affected by Hind's blood or d to have much more powerful gods such as Dahak. Artemis can teleport around Earth and to Mt. Olympus at will, possesses special arrows that can turn any mortal or god into an animal. She is also an expert archer, and never misses a shot. She is also depicted to have the ability to transform people into animals with great ease, though other gods may possess the same ability, none ever demonstrated it. :Artemis was portrayed by Rhonda McHardy and Josephine Davison. Gallery '' Artemis.jpg Animated Artemis.jpg Artemis2.jpg artemis 3.jpg artemis i.jpg aphr art ath.jpg '' Appearances * YH: "Inn Trouble" * HTLJ: "The Apple" * Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mt. Olympus * XWP: "Motherhood" * XWP: "To Helicon and Back" (though dead, she was a central character and was originaly intended to appear in a flashback, though this idea did not pan out) Background Mythology :For full information see the Wikipedia page on Artemis. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo. Her Roman counterpart was named Diana. She was also the goddess of wild animals and childbirth safety, and was actually a virgin goddess, unlike how she was portrayed in XWP and H:TLJ. She had cults in Sparta and Ephesus. She was actually born on Delos. In some myths, she killed both Adonis and Orion. She punished her virgin companion Callisto by turning her into the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). She also punished Agamemnon, Iphigenia, and Niobe. She helped raise Atalanta and was involved in the Trojan War (on the side of Troy). Category:Gods Category:Children of Zeus Category:Victims of Xena Category:Xena: Warrior Princess characters Category:Main Antogonists of Xena: Warrior Princess Category:XWP Season Five Category:Deceased Characters